Typical
by Spark Plug x
Summary: Mikhail was the typical 'nerd'. Cassius was the typical...well...Cassius was far from typical. Mikhail had other things to focus on, like his grades & getting scholarships so he wouldn't have to burden his sister. However, Cassius was a hard boy to ignore, especially when he brought Mikhail his favorite drinks & flashed him a devious smirk. PopPunkRejectShipping. Highschool AU!
1. Chapter 1

**Sorry another story that is basically just ocs. **

**Mikhail & Cassius Highschool AU**

Mikhail Aleksandrov kept his head down, focusing on the page of formulas in his notebook. It was first period, World Affairs, and he had a math test is third period. He was sure he was going to do fine on it, but he wanted to make sure.

The class was an easy one, filled with freshman and seniors mostly. Sophomores and juniors were too busy with U.S. history and World History to sign up for this class. Mikhail took it because it was an easy A and it was always good to have an easy class in the morning. The teacher was extremely laid back too, and only taught for half of the class. He didn't care what you did for the remaining time as long as you behaved.

Mikhail heard his classmates laugh and talk and he inwardly groaned. They made it so hard to study. He was thankful when the morning announcements came on and the class was distracted by the two student 'anchors' that were projected onto the board by the projector hanging from the ceiling.

Mikhail pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, wishing he could get contacts, as the door opened. Two students came in as the announcements ended. The girl student flicked on the lights, blinding everyone momentarily, before she dropped a pass on the teacher's desk. The girl has long light blond hair and sea green eyes. She had a scar on her cheek and sat in the seat next to Mikhail. Her name was Natalie Chem. Mikhail remembered her because she lent him a pencil in mythology class once in his sophomore year, and she didn't even ask for the pencil back.

The other student was a boy, Mikhail couldn't remember his name. He was taller than Mikhail and he honestly looked like a pop punk band spit him out. He had golden blond hair with streaks of brown throughout it up in a faux-hawk hairstyle. He usually wore ripped jeans or cargo cut offs, depending on the weather, and wore band tees or a plain tank top with an unbutton shirt over it. He had blue eyes and piercings on both of his ears, one on his eyebrow, and one on his lip.

The boy put a candy bar on the teacher's desk next to the pass Natalie dropped off, and plopped down in his seat in front of her. He slurped his slushie he had most likely gotten at the gas station up the road, which was probably why both of them were late, and yawned.

The two were late three times out of five and they always showed up with some sort of beverage or snack. Natalie always had passes excusing them, but Mikhail was sure the teacher wouldn't have counted them tardy anyway since they were both relatively good students.

Mikhail put up his math notebook as the teacher started to teach. While this class was easy, he didn't want to get cocky like some of the other students in class did. He needed all the good grades he could get so he could snag himself a scholarship. He already had a few in mind, mostly ones of tiny amounts that would cover his books for college, and he knew he could get those, but he needed his GPA as high as possible so he could get a scholarship to cover his entire tuition, if possible.

Mikhail was the nerdy guy that almost every single Japanese manga had. He specified Japanese manga because he really fit that nerd stereotype the best. He had the big glasses, had messy blond hair, was shy and pretty introverted, desperately needed money for college, lived with his older sister since his parents ran out on them almost ten years ago, and to top it all off, he was gay.

He read far too much school-life yaoi manga in his small amount of spare time.

He jotted down the notes as the teacher flipped through his powerpoint and was relieved when it was over so he could go back to studying math, though he didn't get to study too much. The boy who was late (What was his name?) turned around and starting talking to Natalie, who looked to be trying to study for the math test as well.

Mikhail attempted to ignore him, but he was practically sitting right next to him and the boy had this voice that would invade your thoughts. It irritated Mikhail.

* * *

Mikhail left his math class, feeling pretty okay about the test. He was sure he did fine, but he was still worried about it as he made his way to his usual lunch table.

Mikhail had two friends. Jordan Devereaux and Leighton Christopher. Luckily for him, they were dating.

It actually sorta sucked, mostly at the beginning of their relationship though. Mikhail had known Jordan for almost all of his life and was his best friend. Of course, he had developed feelings for Jordan, but those feelings weren't returned. When Jordan started to date Leighton, Mikhail hated her. Now, however, after a year, he had gotten over it and moved on, thus becoming good friend with Leighton.

Speaking of Leighton, she was already at the lunch table when Mikhail sat down. She had long brunette hair and purple eyes. She was almost always dressed in the latest fashion. Leighton was prissy, sassy, spoiled, persistent (on the verge of annoying), and extremely rich. Despite this, she was actually a kind-hearted person and really did care for Jordan and Mikhail. She always tried to pay Mikhail far too much for him tutoring her in math. Mikhail sometimes felt like she was doing it out of pity for him, but then he would realize that she was just trying to be helpful since she knew that it was just Mikhail and his sister.

So he let her bring him lunch every so often (almost every day). Mikhail glanced around the lunchroom, hoping to catch sight of Jordan, but his eyes landed on the boy in his first period. He was smirking and laughing to Natalie, who he always seemed to be around. They were probably dating. Mikhail didn't care. He felt bad for Natalie to be stuck with him.

"So I notice that you're checking out that hot piece of ass otherwise known as Cassius Rushton?" Leighton smirked, wiggling her eyebrows at Mikhail.

"Oh, that's his name!" Mikhail exclaimed, feeling much better now that he knew. "And no, I definitely was not. I was looking to see if Jordan was around. Why would I check out Cassius?"

"Mikhail, please, no need to hide it. Who wouldn't check him out?" Leighton questioned, opening her tuber ware container that had little sandwiches in them. She put a few on a napkin and pushed them over to Mikhail for him to each. "He's a star on the swim team meaning he looks great without a shirt on, has great hair and piercings which some girls, and guys, love, pretty eyes, and his smirk is so devious. He's not my type, of course. My type is Jordan!" She exclaimed as Jordan sat down next to her. She smiled brightly at him and he pushed his black bangs out of his face.

Jordan was pale, with black hair and green eyes. He was the silent and smart type of person. When he spoke, it was usually sarcastic or something extremely blunt. It was just how he was.

"How was the math test?" He asked, asking Leighton more than Mikhail. He knew Mikhail was fine, it was Leighton he was worried about.

"Fine. I'm pretty sure I got myself a B." She shrugged, biting into one of the sandwiches. "I'm not getting my hopes too high. Ms. Eles loves to draw all over my test with that evil red pen of hers." She muttered, pouting.

"I told you to study this morning." Mikhail reminded her, finishing up a sandwich and reaching for another.

"Mikhail, I can barely get myself out of bed and this gorgeous in time for school. Besides, I need my caffeine to do anything productive in the morning." Leighton continued. "Let's not talk about the math test. How about I caught Mikhail checking out Cassius Rushton?" She told Jordan, who looked mildly surprised.

"That Cassius?" He asked, nodding to the boy who was sitting on the end of a table a little ways from them. He had his legs stretched out under the table and was rapidly eating an apple while Natalie was speaking. "The one that looks like he was spit out of an All Time Low music video?"

"Jordan, be nice." Leighton elbowed him.

"I was not checking him out. I happened to glance at him when I was looking for you earlier." Mikhail muttered, covering his face with his hands. "Leighton, why don't we discuss your science test that's coming up?"

"Don't avoid this topic! C'mon Mikhail, you focus on school way too much. Would it be so bad to branch out and make more friends….or get a boyffffffrrriieennndd?" She giggled and Mikhail wanted to stuff a sandwich in her mouth.

"I don't have an interest for stuff like that. It's senior year anyway. I won't keep in contact with anyone except for you two once we graduate." Mikhail replied.

"You're no fun." She sighed, rolling her eyes. "I just wanna see you happy!"

"I'm extremely happy without a boyfriend to bug me and distract me. I already have you harassing me every day." Mikhail muttered and Jordan held back a chuckle.

"It doesn't have to be Cassius. It could be any guy in this school!" Leighton started up again.

* * *

"I'm heading off to school." Mikhail called out, grabbing his bookbag from his desk in his bedroom. He trudged down the short hallway that led out to the small living space and kitchen. His older sister, Caterina, was sitting at the small dining table, drinking her morning coffee.

"Alright, go have a good day, alright?" She said with a smiling, waving him over so she could give him a hug and a kiss. He groaned, but let her hug him tightly.

"Okay, okay, okay!" He told her, breaking free of her grasp as he heard Jordan honk his horn again outside. He hurried out of the house and down the driveway. He got into the back of the car and shut the door. "Sorry, Cat was being clingy this morning." He said and both Jordan and Leighton snickered. He rolled his eyes as he buckled his seat belt. He didn't mind Cat being clingy, she did raise him and take care of him when their parents disappeared.

"She's so pretty! You gotta find out what products she uses on her skin." Leighton gushed, turning to look at Mikhail.

"I'll ask her." Mikhail muttered, pushing his glasses up onto his nose, rolling his eyes.

He wasn't going to ask her.

They got to school a few minutes later and Mikhail was ready to get to first period. He needed to work on an extra credit essay for his English class. He didn't get time to finish it last night, he was too busy studying for the science test that was tomorrow and doing math homework for the next week so he was ahead of the game and didn't have to worry about it.

He walked with Jordan and Leighton to Jordan's locker, than Mikhail and Leighton walked to their lockers.

"Wow, he's actually on time today." Mikhail muttered, glancing to Cassius, who was walking down the hall with his bookbag slug over one shoulder, Natalie by his side until she had to stop at her locker. He waved to her and kept walking, winking at a group of girls (and guys) as he passed them. Mikhail rolled his eyes and slammed his locker shut with annoyance. "I'm going to class. See ya in third period." He said and headed to first period.

Someone shouted and he heard a body slam against a locker. All of a sudden, the narrow hallway became a fight zone with screams and threats to get a teacher. Mikhail felt a whirl of wind past his face and realized he was almost punched.

Cassius watched the fight and chuckled to himself, he always enjoyed a good fight. "Mikhail!" Leighton exclaimed and Cassius glanced to her, then back to the fight, where he saw the nerdy blond boy stuck in the middle. He didn't know why but he was pushing through the crowd to help the poor boy.

"Oh shit!" Mikhail felt someone grab him and he was yanked against someone who pulled him through the circle of students that were gathering around the fight. "Ya okay?" Cassius asked when they were in the safety zone. "Why the hell were ya in the middle of the fight?"

"I wasn't!" Mikhail exclaimed, realizing the male who had saved him was Cassius.

_Oh the irony. _

"Kinda looked like ya were…Mikhail, right?" Cassius asked, smiling at him. Mikhail jumped back. Cassius just continue to look at him.

"Y-Yeah, uh, thanks. I gotta go." Mikhail rushed off, running to the safety of his first period class.

* * *

**Sorry not sorry I just really want to do tons of Mikhail and Cassius stories because they are adorable.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm glad you guys are actually interested in this story! Just know that this is a Highschool AU and it won't have any pokemon in it.**

* * *

Cassius didn't know why, but the nerdy boy that sat diagonal to him in his first period, had caught his attention. The boy had just been another student to Cassius. He had been noticed, but not really logged into Cassius' brain. Mikhail didn't really speak, or even look up from his notebook in class unless he was looking up at the notes on board and jotting them down onto his paper.

"Why did you keep looking at Mikhail during first period?" Natalie questioned as the two blonds walked to their second periods, which were right next to each other.

"Hm, I dunno. Probably because I saved his ass from gettin' knocked out in the fight this mornin' and he just ran off. It looked like I scared him. Am I scary?" Cassius questioned, turning to his best friend.

"I don't find you scary, but I've known you for forever and I've seen you cry while watching 'The Blind Side' so I don't think I'm the greatest judge." She replied and Cassius was embarrassed for a moment, but got over it quickly. "Mikhail is just startled easily, don't worry about it. I'll see you at lunch." Nate said before she walked into her class. Cassius went into his, plopping down in his seat behind Leighton, one of Mikhail's best friends.

"Mornin'." Cassius greeted her, which he did every so often.

"Good morning, thank you for helping Mikhail earlier." Leighton said, turning around in her seat to speak to Cassius. "He's smart but pretty spacy and freezes up. I thought he was going to get knocked out for sure."

"No problem. I wasn't goin' let him get the shit beat out of him." Cassius shrugged and Leighton smiled at him. "You ready for the test tomorrow?"

"Psh, only if I get a caramel Frappuccino tomorrow." She muttered, sighing. "I know I won't get it, so I'll just stay up all night and study."

* * *

Leighton was in second period early the next morning when Cassius walked in. "Here ya go." He said, setting down a Starbucks cup on the desk. "Hope I got it right."

"What?" She questioned, staring at the drink as the blond and brown haired boy took his seat behind her.

"You told me you needed one to past, so I got you one." He shrugged as Leighton examined the drink to make sure he didn't do anything to it before she took a sip and sighed a delighted smile, drinking more of the drink. "Like it?"

"It's perfection. Thank you, but you really didn't have to do that." She replied, but was happy he did.

"Eh, I was there anyway because Nate wanted a drink." Cassius replied, happy that the girl was so delighted. He didn't know why he got her a drink really. He spoke to Leighton every so often, they were acquaintances, not friends, but he had gone to Starbucks with Nate that morning, and he had remembered the drink the brunette girl wanted, so he thought, 'what the hell' and bought one.

"I should be the one buying you coffee as thanks for the other day." Leighton said, turning to face Cassius.

"It's no biggie."

"I know I know, but Mikhail is really important to me. He's not just my boyfriend's best friend, he's my best friend too." She continued as more students piled into the classroom. "One punch from those idiots could have sent him flying and then I'd have to kick their asses." Cassius chuckled at this, trying to imagine the girl fighting. "Really, I would. Mikhail is a total sweetheart but he's a total nerd and not social." She muttered.

"I could kinda tell." Cassius replied, thinking of the boy and his big black glasses that he was constantly pushing up onto his nose in first period. "He avoids all eye contact with me and everyone else in the class. I've heard him speak like, four times."

"You'd like him! Why don't you join us at lunch?" Leighton smiled, hoping he'd say yes.

"Eh, sure, why not?" Cassius agreed.

* * *

"Where'd you get that coffee from?" Mikhail questioned Leighton towards the end of math class. He wanted to ask her when she walked in the door with the drink, but the teacher started to teach immediately, so he didn't have a chance to. Now that the class was almost over, he had time.

"Cassius." Leighton answered, finishing up the drink and tossing the empty cup into the trashcan. "I told him how I needed one yesterday so I could pass the science test today, and he got me one. Isn't that sweet?"

"Yeah…" Mikhail muttered, rolling his eyes. He knew where this was going to go.

"You did thank him for what happened Thursday, right?" Leighton questioned.

"Yeah, I did." Mikhail said, trying to finish questions he had to do for English class. "Sorta. I said thanks." He thought back to the incident. "I said thanks and ran off to first period."

"Urg, Mikhail!" Leighton sighed, wanting to shake the boy. "How are you supposed to make friends this way?"

"I don't need any more friends, Leighton. I told you Tuesday at lunch my thoughts on the matter." Mikhail argued, wanting Leighton to leave him alone.

"It doesn't matter, I invited Cassius to sit at lunch with us today." Leighton dropped the bomb and Mikhail just stared at her, eyes wide behind his glasses as the bell rang, dismissing them from the class. "Don't be angry with me." Leighton said as Mikhail hoisted his book bag onto his shoulders and Leighton rushed to grab hers and follow him out of the classroom and towards the lunch room.

"I'm not, I don't care who you invite to sit with us at lunch." Mikhail said, but both knew he was lying. Mikhail didn't like change, and he didn't want to make 'new friends'. He had other things to focus on! He sat down forcefully in his seat at the table. Leighton sat across from him, like she normally did. "Please be nice."

"I got homework I gotta do." Mikhail replied, pulling out his notebook and a book that was a reading assignment for the class. It had sneaked up on him and now he was rushing to finish it.

"Mikhail!" Leighton whined as Cassius approached the table. His bag was slung over his shoulders and he slowed as he approached the table, raising his eyebrows in a questioning manner. "Hey! C'mon, you can sit next to Mikhail." She waved him over. Mikhail didn't look up from his paper as he felt the boy sit in the chair next to him and shuffle around, getting settled.

"I invited Nate, if that's chill." Mikhail heard Cassius say, his voice was deeper than Mikhail's and the tone of it was far friendlier.

"That's fine, I was expecting that." Leighton smiled at Cassius, trying to make him not feel awkward. "Sorry, Mikhail's trying to finish up some homework."

"Ah, totally understand that." He glanced over to Mikhail, before looking back to Leighton. Jordan approached the table, looking a little confused, but didn't say anything as he took his spot next to Leighton.

"Hey." Jordan greeted Cassius, who returned the greeting, adding a 'how are ya?' to it, annoying Mikhail with how Cassius seemed to cut the 'g' off of a lot of his words, and said 'ya' a lot. He did that sometimes, but it seemed to be a constant thing with how Cassius spoke.

"Hello." A female voice greeted, and Natalie sat down next to Cassius, obviously feeling a little awkward.

"Hello!" Leighton replied, flashing her smile, which didn't seem to work too well on Nate.

"Sorry, Nate's not great with meetin' people." Cassius apologized and Mikhail could hear him grunt as Nate elbowed him.

"Thanks for helping Mikhail the other day." Jordan said, embarrassing Mikhail. He wished they would stop talking about that!

"No biggie." Cassius said, stretching his back and Mikhail could hear it pop. "So, what'cha readin'?" He asked and it took Mikhail a moment to realize the question was directed towards him. He looked to the male to see him looking at him intently, like he had the day he pulled him from the fight.

"Uh, The Old Man and the Sea." He answered and Leighton groaned.

"Wait a second, that's the extra credit assignment! I thought you meant actually homework." She looked frustrated at Mikhail for doing extra credit work instead of socializing with the attractive boy sitting next to him.

He already felt awkward enough on how he reacted when Cassius pulled him from the fight, and it got worse whenever someone mentioned it. Now Leighton was putting him on the spot, and he didn't want the two blondes to know his situation with his sister.

"Extra credit is important." Nate piped in, helping Mikhail out a bit.

"Dude, I love that book!" Cassius exclaimed, all his attention on Mikhail now. "It's real sad and it's hard to read because it really drags, but I liked it a lot."

"You're the first." Mikhail muttered. He was barely through the book. It was grinding on his nerves and the fact that it was due after lunch didn't help. He didn't do as well as he wanted on his last test, and doing this would add twenty points to his lowest test grade, which was the last test.

"You don't even need the extra credit. You got a 95 on the last test." Leighton grumbled and Cassius looked slightly impressed.

"Goin' the extra mile, eh?" He questioned, then grinned. "If ya wanna know what happens in the book, I'll tell ya. I did the assignment too."

"Really?" Mikhail was surprised. He knew Cassius had to do decently in his classes to stay on the swim team, but he didn't seem like the type to go do extra credit. He didn't want to receive more help from the boy, but he knew he wasn't going to finish in time. His pride was fighting hard to win this battle, but his brain was making more sense. "What happens?"

"He catches the fish and it gets eaten as he makes his way back and all he has of it is the skeleton." Cassius told him and Mikhail groaned.

"Glad I didn't waste any more time on it." He muttered, going straight to work on the questions, being able to figure out answers to them since he now knew the ending of the story. "Thanks."

"No prob." Cassius replied, watching Mikhail fly through the questions.

"So, Cassius, how much time do you spend doing your hair each morning?" Leighton question, looking at the blond and brown haired boy. "Or do you just wake up and it's like that?"

"Eh, I dunno. It does stick up like this on its own some morning, but I usually style it up. Twenty minutes?" He questioned, not too sure. "I would probably be quicker if I didn't spend so much time lookin' in the mirror at myself." He chuckled, drawing attention of some students sitting near them, who were surprised to see Cassius and Natalie sitting with the group.

Urg, boys who knew they were attractive were the worst and now people were staring and whispering about them. They did that when Leighton first began to hang with Jordan and Mikhail, because it was strange to see a glamorous girl with two guys like them, but everyone got used to it. Now it was starting all over again.

"Same here." Leighton agreed, flicking her hair over her shoulder. Jordan and Natalie both rolled their eyes.

"Not our fault we're so attractive." Cassius smirked and Mikhail wanted to hit him and smack the smirk off of his handsome face.

"I'm still better lookin'!" Another male said as he passed behind Cassius. He had dark blue hair and a serious tan. He ruffled up Cassius' hair, messing it up, before he laughed and continued on his way.

"Marlon! The fuck? Don't touch my hair!" Cassius growled back, his hands flying to his hair trying to fix it. The super tanned male just kept walking, throwing his right hand up as if to say 'sorry'. "I'll drown him in the pool later today." Cassius murmured.

"Relax, it's just hair." Mikhail said. He never really bothered to style his hair or spend tons of time on it. He just brushed it when he woke up and went on with his day.

"I can't walk around with my hair all messed up." Cassius replied while Nate directed him on how to fix it since neither, surprisingly, had a mirror with them.

"Looks are 90% of presentation." Nate said once Cassius' hair was fixed.

Oh, so Natalie was vain just like Cassius? That was a bit surprising since the blonde girl didn't seem to be the type to spend forever in front of the bathroom mirror.

"I don't really see the point, but whatever."

"Point of what?" Cassius asked, his attention back on the blond male.

"On looks. No one will remember the next day. It's a waste to spend time on things like that when you could put it to better use." Mikhail explained.

"Ya feel as good as ya look." Cassius replied. "If I look like shit, I'll feel like shit, and what's so wrong with wantin' to look good? Don't ya want girls, or guys, or whatever ya aim for, attention?"

"Nothing is wrong with wanting to look good, just spending unnecessary amounts of time and effort towards it is pointless when someone just, you know, can run their hand through your hair and mess it all up. Their attention is only for your outside, not your inside. I'd rather someone like me for my personality than my looks." Mikhail put down his pencil and looked at Cassius as he said this.

Cassius only looked a little annoyed, much to Mikhail's surprise because he figured that anyone would be pissed at him for saying something like he just said. He was basically calling Cassius vain, which he very much was. Leighton was glaring him down and Jordan watched to see where this would go.

"Is it impossible for someone to like someone else based on their looks and then get to know them and like their personality as well?" Cassius questioned. "Looks get my attention, but whether or not I decide to hang around is based solely on their attitude and personality."

Mikhail couldn't really argue that, because Cassius made good points. The bell ending lunch rang out before either males could say anything more on the matter.

"Aw, lunch always ends too soon. It was nice sittin' here with y'all! See ya later." Cassius stood and put his bookbag around him as Nate did the same. He smiled at them before he went off with Nate to his next class.

"He annoys me." Mikhail muttered. Jordan shook his head and Leighton groaned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Just so you all know, the rating will go up in this story. There will be M-rated scenes and all that fun stuff. I dunno if I've stated this before but this is an AU with no pokemon.**

* * *

"Excuse me." A girl with dirty blonde hair in a low ponytail said to Mikhail, tapping his shoulder very lightly. It was Monday afternoon in his English class. Mikhail's weekend had been uneventful, as usual.

"Oh, uhm, yes?" He questioned, not sure why this girl was speaking to him.

"I'm Lily. I've been out since last Tuesday. I was wondering if I could borrow your notes." She questioned, her blue eyes a little nervous.

"You're Cassius' friend, right?" He questioned back, reaching into his bookbag for his English note book. "Here." He handed them to her and she smiled gratefully.

"Yup! Best friends!" She exclaimed, already starting to copy down notes. "I didn't know you knew him?"

"Last week was full of adventure." He muttered, making her giggle.

"Well I'm glad that he and Natalie are branching out."

"Branching out?" He questioned, confused. Cassius was a popular guy. Everyone in school knew him and he always had someone to talk to no matter where he was.

"He can't just hang out with Natalie all the time. People already think that they're dating. How silly is that?" She laughed and Mikhail forced a laugh, even though he thought they were dating. "I know he had friends…but I mean, friend friends. Ones that will stay up until five in the morning with you when you're having a rough night, or drive across town to come and get you when your car breaks down all while yelling at you that you shouldn't have gone across town by yourself."

"Oh, I understand." Mikhail nodded, surprised at her sudden seriousness. "But it won't matter after high school. Many friendships don't last. I think it's better to find a few people and stick close to them than have tons of friends and worry more about that than your grades."

"You still got to branch out. Making friends in high school builds your socializing skills, which are important in the future." Lily said and continued to copy the notes.

Mikhail sat in his desk in first period the next morning and surprisingly, Cassius and Natalie were actually early.

"Mornin'." Cassius greeted Mikhail as the two sat down. He held out a slushie to Mikhail, surprising him even more. "Got ya cherry because I didn't know what type was your favorite."

"Oh…thanks.." Mikhail mumbled, slowly taking the slushie from his hand. The two had been late Monday morning and they watched a video the entire class period, so neither of them tried to talk to him, but it seemed like today would be different.

"You always look like you could use a treat. Don't you ever stop studying or doing schoolwork?" He asked, now turned so he was facing him completely. His full on attention was weird for Mikhail.

"Grades are important." Mikhail said, taking a small sip of his slushie so he didn't seem rude. "I'm not good at sports or music so I have to rely on my grades to get my scholarships."

"Oh, your parents are pushy about it or somethin'?" He questioned.

"Uh, yeah, sorta." He mumbled, not willing wanting to discuss his home life with Cassius. "I wanna make my sister proud too."

"You got a sister? I bet she's as cute as you." Cassius winked at Mikhail and his cheeks heated up while he glared at Cassius.

"Shut up." He said. He hated being teased like that.

"I'm just being honest. We're friends now, ya know."

"No, I was unaware of that fact actually." Mikhail grumbled and Nate chuckled.

"Well we are!" Cassius exclaimed. "You're kinda like Nate when I first met her. Actually you're kinda like Nate now…except she beats me up more."

"You're such a baby, suck it up." Nate kicked his desk, rolling her eyes at him.

* * *

"I can't believe he got you a drink and considers you his friend!" Leighton squealed at lunch. Jordan hadn't arrived, so, Mikhail was stuck with her.

"Leighton, he doesn't mean it. He's friends with everyone." Mikhail muttered, stirring his spoon around the thermos of soup that Leighton had brought for him. "Why would he wanna be friends with me anyway?"

"Don't say that." Leighton grumbled, shaking her head. "Don't be so down on yourself, why wouldn't he wanna be friends with you?" She question and Mikhail just stared at her.

"Mikhail, don't forget, Leighton and I have to stay late after school today." Jordan said as he sat down at the table.

"Yeah yeah, I know." He didn't really wanna stay after school super late, but he didn't want to catch the bus home or walk home either. "I'll just sit around and wait."

"Hello Mikhail!" Lily greeted from behind him, she had her lunch tray in her hands and it looked like she was heading over to the table where Cassius and Natalie were waiting. "You know, I'm getting a ride home from Flint today, and Cas and Nate need a mediator in the car, so if you need a ride home, he'll be more than happy to take you."

"Oh, no, I couldn't…" Mikhail fumbled, shaking his head.

"That would be so sweet of him! Are you sure it's okay?" Leighton piped in, silencing Mikhail.

"It's totally fine. You live in my neighborhood, right Mikhail?" She questioned and he nodded his head. "Yeah, then it's totally fine. Nate and Cas live right down the street, so it's no trouble. I'll tell him when I go sit down for lunch. Just meet him after school at his locker, alright? See you in English class!" She smiled a final time before going to her table, explaining what just happened to her other blond friends.

"I hate you." Mikhail told Leighton.

* * *

It was awful. He spent the rest of his day inwardly panicking about riding home with Cassius and Natalie. They were far more popular than him, and far better looking, so they had to be meaner than he was too. He trusted Lily to a certain level and he knew neither she nor Nate would play a prank on him, but he didn't know Cassius well enough to have that little trust in him.

He didn't want to be pitied, or mocked. He wanted to just breeze through highschool, and he had done it so far. Now, he was waiting by Cassius' locker, feeling like an idiot and like everyone was staring at him when no one actually noticed him.

"Hey!" Cassius greeted him, appearing from a crowd of people. "You okay? Look a lil' nervous. Don't worry, I'm a good driver." He undid his lock on his locker and starting moving stuff from his bookbag to his locker. "Nate gets road rage though, so watch her."

"Shut up." Nate said, now standing behind them. Mikhail jumped, startled. His reaction made Cassius laugh, but not in a mocking way.

"Geez, you're pretty jumpy, aren't you?" Cassius asked, finally shutting his locker. His swung his bag over his shoulder and fished his keys out of his pocket. "C'mon, let's head home." He walked down the hall with the two behind him, waving and saying bye to random students he knew. Natalie stayed quiet, much like Mikhail, until they got to the car.

Mikhail was expecting Cassius to drive a jeep, and boy, was he right. It was a four door, blue, jeep wrangler, with stickers all over the back window from various bands and other things. He unlocked it and him and Nate jumped in, while Mikhail hesitantly slid into the backseat, slowly putting his bookbag on the floorboard and putting his seatbelt on.

It smiled nice in the car, sort of like the ocean.

"Yo, pick a cd!" Cassius exclaimed, starting his car. Mikhail just stared blankly at the two blondes in the front seats. "Pick! 'So Right It's Wrong', 'Nothing Personal', 'Dirty Work', or 'Don't Panic!'" Cassius listed and Mikhail was still confused.

"Ah uhm, the third one?" He questioned and Cas slid the cd into cd player and rolled down the windows. It was still hot, August was always a hot month, and he pulled out of his spot and sped out of the student parking lot while the music started.

Mikhail had never heard music like this before. It wasn't bad, actually, he sort of liked it. Sort of. It was very, poppy but not poppy? It definitely fit Cassius, if that made any sense.

"Dirty Work is his favorite." Natalie told him as she turned around to look at him. "If you don't like it, we'll change it."

Mikhail glanced at Cassius, who was drumming on the steering wheel, waiting for his turn to turn onto the next street. He looked back to Nate and shook his head. "I like it. I can tell why it's his favorite."

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, so he pulled it out to see a text from Leighton. Nate held back a laugh when she looked his phone. She turned to face forward when Mikhail shot her a look.

Okay, his phone was old, but it was a hand me down from his sister and he wasn't going to be picky.

"_Hows it going? ;)" _Leighton's text message she sent him said, and he rolled his eyes and replied back with a 'fine' and put his phone back in his pocket as Nate and Cassius looked at each other before one of them growled. Mikhail guessed it was Nate.

"Don't skip over that song!"

"Oh come on, Nate, we listened to it this morning." He whined, sighing. Nate's arm reached out and smacked him over the head and Mikhail was thankfully they were at a red light. "Fine!" He pouted and switched it back.

Mikhail sat back awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Were they mad at each other now? Was that a fight?

"You okay?" Cassius asked, glancing in the rearview mirror at him.

"Uh…" He mumbled, unsure of what to say.

"Relax, Nate and I argue all the time like that. She usually wins, only because I let her." Cassius smirked and was hit again. They both laughed after this, and Mikhail was as lost as ever. "Which one is your house?" He asked as he pulled into their neighborhood.

Mikhail wasn't really embarrassed about his house. It was probably the smallest in the neighborhood, but it was still cute and looked nice on the outside. "It's this one here." He pointed to the white house and Cassius pulled up to it.

"You wanna borrow the cd?" He questioned before Mikhail could get out of the car.

"Oh, uh, sure." Mikhail was a little surprised at this. It was Cassius' favorite and he was letting him borrow it? "Thank you, for the ride and letting me borrow the cd."

"No prob, we're friends now and it's not like you were out of the way." He said, putting the cd back into its case and handing it over to Mikhail. He got out of the car and waved at the two blondes before running across the lawn to his front door. He nervously fumbled with his keys, because the car was still there by the curb, Cassius was obviously waiting for him to get into the house, which made him nervous but always made him feel a little better. When Mikhail finally got the door open, he turned to look at them. Both waved before they drove off and he went inside.

He sighed, dragging his back to his bedroom. It was sort of empty. He had his desk cleared and his bed was made perfectly. He opened the laptop Catarina got him for his last birthday, even though he protested against her getting him such an expensive gift. He booted it up and put the cd in it, downloading it to his computer so he could listen to it later.

He had already done all of his homework and he had no tests to study for this week, so he was a bit at lost at what to do. Jordan and Leighton were still at school, and Catarina would be at work for a few more hours. He sat at his desk and goofed around on the internet before eventually logging onto his Facebook account that Leighton insisted that he create. He had only fifty friends, many of them Catarina's friends. He did, however, have a new friend request. It was from Lily, which made him smile and a bit and he accepted it. Her profile had pictures of her and her boyfriend, Flint, a boy with a bright red afro, all over it. Cas and Nate were all over it too, which didn't surprise him much.

He clicked on Cassius' name and was directed to his profile. He felt sort of weird, but he scrolled through it, looking at the few things he could since it was sent to private and he had to be friends with him to see it all. Of course, his profile picture was beautiful. It was him surfing, it was probably taken by Natalie. His cover photo was him being buried in sand by Nate and Lily, and it was pretty adorable.

Urg! No, no, Cassius was annoying and he disliked him greatly.

Okay, maybe Cassius wasn't so bad. He still annoyed him, but he had good taste in music.

He squinted at the screen as a friend request popped up. It was from Cassius. Mikhail didn't know what to do exactly but he accepted it and seconds later a message popped up.

"_Yo! You like the cd?" _Cassius asked him and Mikhail rolled his eyes.

"_I literally just downloaded it onto my computer."_

"_Hey, they're my favorite band. I'm eager to see what ya think of 'em." _Mikhail clicked play on his music software so he could began to listen to the music.

"_Relax. I'm listening now. What did you do when you got home? Throw your bag across the room and race to your computer to harass me?"_

"_Are ya busy or somethin'?" _

Mikhail stared at that message for a moment. He could lie and say he was and Cassius would stop talk to him, but, he wasn't busy and he was actually very bored. _"Not at the moment." _

"_Good! So if you dig this CD lemme know and I'll let ya borrow the others ones too!" _Mikhail wasn't so surprised by his excitement or his generosity with his cds. He clicked through the songs, only pausing to listen to ones that he liked. He figured he'd go through the others later.

"_Can do. Thanks." _Cassius seemed to back off for a little while, and Mikhail browsed the internet for the next four songs in peace.

"_Got a favorite song so far?" _His facebook account dinged to alert him of his newest message from Cassius.

"_Let me think about it. I can see why Natalie enjoys 'Get on Yours Knees and Tell Me You Love Me' though." _He replied. Cassius sent him a laughing emoticon.

"_Eh, yeah, reminds her of an ex-boyfriend." _Cassius sent back and Mikhail felt a little bad. The song lyrics were pretty tough ones, so that relationship must have ended horribly. _" 'I Feel Like Dancin' is your favorite, right?" _

"_Yeah, but I have tons of favorites from that album." _Mikhail could imagine him shrugging.

"_I like 'A Daydream Away' and 'Forget About It" _He did enjoy those two songs. 'Forget About It' kinda suited him on some levels and he was a little nervous about Cassius would say about his choices.

"_Nice selection :)" _Cassius replied and Mikhail smiled.

Why.

Why did he smile?

He groaned and ran his hands through his messy hair.

"Hey, Mikhail, I got off work early. What do you want for dinner?" Catarina asked, knocking on his door before she opened it. She just looked at her brother, who had his head on his computer desk in despair. "Is something wrong?"

"Boys are stupid." He groaned, frowning. She just laughed and left his room. He shut his laptop, not bothering to reply to Cassius. He got up and left his room. His sister was straighting the cushions on the couch, but he just plopped down, messing them up. "I'll fix them." He told her, hugging one against his chest.

"You want to talk about it?" She asked him, patting down his hair to try and get it to conform in some way or another. He let her do it without protesting. "Come on now, tell your big sis why boys are stupid."

"Because they are! Especially ones who are popular but for some reason decide to put all their interest and attention on you and are nice to you for no reason whatsoever and are probably planning some prank!" He exclaimed, startling his sister a bit, but she just walked around the couch and sat next to him, putting her arms around him and pulling him into a hug.

"Now what boy wouldn't be head over heels for my adorable baby brother?" She questioned, making him blush and groan. "You're the cutest thing in the world. What if this boy is genuinely into you?"

"Then he needs a CAT scan or something." Mikhail grumbled. He really adored his sister and even though hugs and close contact wasn't his thing, he let her do whatever she wanted because he loved her so much.

"I would love to meet him sometime, if you decide that you'd like to be friends with him." She kissed the top of his head before letting him go and getting up. "Now what do you want for dinner?"

* * *

"Hey." Cassius greeted Mikhail at his locker the next morning. Mikhail jumped and Cassius laughed again at his reaction. "Here are the other CDS. I think you'll like 'Nothing Personal' best." He pulled the three cds out of his bag and handed them to Mikhail while a few students stared at them as they walked by. Mikhail hurriedly put them into his locker knowing that they'd be safer in the locker than his bookbag.

"Thanks…" He mumbled while others continued to look at him. Cassius tilted his head, a little confused at how he was acting since they were getting along pretty well yesterday, or he thought they were getting together pretty well.

"Just return 'em whenever ya want." Cassius said, now feeling awkward. "Uh, see ya in first period." With that, he left just as Leighton arrived at her locker.

"What was that?" She asked, eying Mikhail. "It looked like you just blew him off."

"People were staring." Mikhail grumbled, shutting his locker.

"People always stare at Cassius, have you seen his hair?" She questioned, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, Mikhail, get over it. People are going to look at you throughout life, it's no big deal."

Mikhail didn't like drawing attention to himself, he'd rather blend in, but Cassius made blending in hard to do. He felt a little guilty when Cassius barely spoke to him in first period, the guy looked a little down. When lunch rolled around, Cassius looked a little better, but he didn't even look their direction.

* * *

"I think he hates me..?" Cassius trailed off, looking at Lily and Natalie, his two best friends. He had no clue why this upset him so much.

"Awah, is someone starting to get a little crush?" Lily teased and he glared at her.

"He's just suddenly obsessed with this boy." Nate answered for him. "He saved his ass from getting beat up and now he wants to be his friend."

"He's just, different and interesting." Cassius poked at his food, sighing. "I think I was just a little too friendly or eager."

"He probably thinks you're trying to pull some joke on him." Nate suggested a good theory. "Don't stress about it. Mikhail is a more introverted guy. He's probably just shocked at how friendly and outgoing you are. He'll get used to it eventually."

"Yeah, Natalie got used to both of us in no time, so no need to worry!" Lily smiled happily, trying to cheer up the male. What both of them told him did make a lot of sense.

"You guys are right." He decided after thinking it over. "I guess I'm just a little too eager to make friends."

"You got the three best friends a guy could ever have, how many do you need?" Marlon said, putting his arm around Cassius' shoulders as he plopped down onto the seat next to the male. Marlon was one of his closest friends. They swam together on the swim team and outside of school all the time, and they did have many drunk/tipsy party experiences together. Of course they had a gay rumor about them then floated around the school, but the only ones who paid attention to that were the girls, and guys, that had a thing for yaoi or shit like that.

"A million because you lot are awful." Cassius joked, smiling at his tanned best friend.

"Who are you trying to be friends with?" Marlon asked.

"Mikhail." Nate told him, glancing to the nerdy boy who was eating a sandwich while Jordan talked about something. Marlon turned and looked at him.

"Eh, he's adorable. I would do him." Marlon deciding, turning back around to a red faced Lily and an annoyed Nate. Cassius just blushed lightly and laughed, elbowing his friend.

"Well I call dibs on him so back off." He half joked, but he sort of seriously meant it as well.

* * *

"Cassius." Leighton said, appearing at his locker after lunch. She had a look of determination in her eyes and it kind of freaked him out. "The journalism club is making a sports calendar to raise money for new computers and such. I'm making you Mr. August, got it?"

"Uh, wait, what?" He asked, confused.

"We're making a calendar filled with attractive men on sports teams and I'm picking you." She said more slowly. "I'll just need a picture of you, preferably shirtless, and get a little bio from you to put on the calendar. You'll be the month of August. This is an honor. We only picked a few teams, football, baseball, soccer, swim team, lacrosse, and tennis. Two boys for each team. I called to do swim team because that's the shirtless one and since we're friends, I knew it'd be easier this way. You think you can get Marlon to be Mr. March?" She asked and Cassius nodded his head. "Okay good! It'll be a big picture, with a few smaller pictures on one side and then a little bio on the other side. One picture really isn't enough so I came up with that fabulous idea."

"I can do that. Just lemme know when ya wanna do it. I got practice today and Thursday." He told her, pulling his swim stuff out of his locker. "Marlon will be there too, but it'll just be us two."

"That's perfect!" She cheered, patting his arm. "I'll see you by the pool!"

"

* * *

So what month are you?" Marlon asked as stretched his legs, warming up a bit.

"August." Cassius replied, cracking his back. "I feel like I haven't gone swimming in forever even though I swam last week."

"Me too! It's weird that you're August. Swim season is late-September to the end of March." Marlon mumbled, but both males shrugged it off. "Think of all the girls we're goin' get with this." Marlon grinned as Cassius rolled his eyes and put his swim cap over his hair. He pulled his goggles over his eyes before getting on his small platform and diving into the water.

Leighton opened the door to the building, ushering Mikhail inside before she shut the door. "Urg, it smells in here." He grumbled, annoyed that he had to come. Leighton usually dragged him to these things, so he should be used to it by now. It was their sort of 'bonding time' ritual, though he had no clue why they were even here in the first place.

"Hello?" Leighton called out as they walked down the short hallway that opened up to the pool. Bleachers were on either side of the pool and it smelled even more of chlorine than the lobby did. Marlon waved at them, finishing his stretching. Leighton sat a few of her things on the first row of bleachers and Mikhail did the same, still confused.

"What are we doing here?" He asked her as she pulled out a camera and took a few practice shots.

"It's just something for the journalism team, it's a secret!" She exclaimed, loud enough for Marlon to hear and she hoped neither boys had told anyone about it. Leighton saw someone swimming in the lane closest to them, and she figured it was Cassius. "Get him out of the water pleaseeee." She told Marlon, who stuck his hand in the water, obviously giving some signal to his friend. Cassius popped his head at once he got to the end of the lane and pulled himself out of the water. He pulled his goggles down and pulled the hair cap off, panting slightly.

"What?" He asked Marlon, who just nodded towards Leighton and Mikhail.

"Oh, hey!" He turned, greeting Leighton. His face lit up more when he saw Mikhail. "Hey! I didn't know you were goin' be here." He said, walking towards them. All awkwardness from earlier was gone as Mikhail just stared at Cassius, trying not to turn red like a tomato. It was hard to do, seeing as Cassius was wet, and half naked with super tight swim suit that really highlighted the muscles in his legs.

"Ohmygod you look fabulous." Leighton snapped a picture and smirked at Mikhail. "Oh, that picture was perfect. Marlon, go get wet so I can take pictures of you." She ordered. Marlon just saluted her, tugging his swim cap and goggles on before diving into the water. "So Cassius, what are your hobbies?" She questioned, recorder in her free hand.

"Eh, well, surfing, wake boarding, basically any water sport. Going to concerts too. I'm not that interesting really, I just like being in the water." He rubbed the bag of his neck, a small grin on his face. He actually was acting modest, which Mikhail was surprised at. "I'm not the greatest at interviews."

"That's fine! Say, how many piercings do you have? Do you wear them when you swim?" She asked.

"I have four. I usually take my lip piercing out during practice and take them all off during competitions. Since this isn't really a practice, I kept them all in." He answered, while Leighton nodded her head and Mikhail continued to stare. He wanted to kill Leighton for dragging him to this.

"I didn't know you had a tattoo!" She exclaimed, looking at his upper arm. It was an anchor that had 'Long Live the Reckless and the Brave' written on it. It wasn't super big, but you could clearly read it.

"Oh, yeah, I had to beg my gramps to lemme get it." He grinned, looking at it proudly. "It's an All Time Low song and it kinda fits me anyway.

"It really is a you tattoo." Mikhail mumbled, looking at the tattoo.

"Anythin' else ya wanna ask?"

"Tell me about yourself." Leighton said before snapping another picture of him.

"Ah, well, uh….like I said before I'm really not that interesting. I live with my grandpa, I can speak Greek…All Time Low is my favorite band, I've seen them in concert over twenty times." He continued. "Nate and I went on a road trip last summer when they went on tour and we hit up almost every place they performed at. That was fun. I have no clue what else to say."

"What's your type?" Leighton asked, making Mikhail and Cassius both blush, but Marlon laughed loudly as he climbed out of the pool. Leighton snapped multiple pictures of him as he took of his cap and googles, throwing his arms around Cassius' shoulders in a sort of hug manner. Of course, Leighton took pictures of that too, making Mikhail slightly annoyed.

"I don't really have a type." Cassius mumbled, shaking Marlon off of him with a chuckle. "Boy…girl, doesn't matter to me really." He said and Mikhail sat up a little straighter, now interested. "Long as they like the music I like and get along with my friends."

"Oh yeah, getting through Lily and Nate is a hard one." Marlon nodded his head. "They almost didn't accept me to the group, which is insane because I'm incredibly good looking." Leighton laughed, snapping a picture of Marlon's pose he did and Cassius laughed too, shoving his friend in a playful manner.

"But really, I don't have a type, but cute people are preferable." He winked at Mikhail, who jolted back, face red. He glared at Cassius, not liking be teased like that. "Your turn Marlon." He patted his friend's back as he pulled his swim cap back on, ready to go swim again.

"Wait a second, I'm not done!" Leighton pouted. "Why do you like to swim?"

"I'm good at it?" Cassius answered, unsure. "I dunno, its fun to me. I've grown up in the water."

"Do you guys really shave?" She asked. "Do you guys work out? Oh my god look at your biceps!" She squealed, looking at Marlon. "You guys should be shirtless all the time. Your legs are way smoother than mine!"

"We shave before competitions, but I like how smooth my legs feel." Marlon answered, letting Leighton touch his arms. "Cassius will let you feel his if you want to." Marlon smirked at Mikhail. Cassius blushed but try to play it off, winking again at Mikhail.

"Oh my god." Mikhail grumbled, putting his face in his hands.

"His muscles aren't as great as mine, but that's because I swim breast stroke." Marlon bragged as Cassius got ready to dive into the water again.

"What style do you do?" Leighton asked Cassius.

"I swim free." He replied before diving into the water. Leighton continued to interview Marlon, but Mikhail didn't pay attention much, he was focused on Cassius as he swam. It looked like fun, swimming, but Mikhail sank like a rock whenever he got in the water.

"Mikhaiiilllll." Leighton waved her hand in front of his face, trying to get his attention. "You hear me?"

"No, sorry."

"I said I'm done here. Ready to go?" She asked as Marlon dove into the water. "Or you wanna watch Cassius swim some more? I bet he'll let you touch his muscles if you ask."

"N-No thank you!" Mikhail stood up quickly, grabbing his back. "I can't believe you just said that to me!" He whined, as they walked to the lobby towards the doors. "Why the hell did you drag me to that? You didn't need me!"

"We haven't had one on one bonding time in a while, and I figured you'd thank me for getting to see some hot shirtless men." She answered and held the door open for him.

"Well…I appreciate that thank you." He said swiftly as he walked out the door and Leighton grinned.


	4. Chapter 4

**This story is just really fun to write. Sorry guys, I'm so into Ouran Host Club (again) and I've been doing nonstop Pokemon stories for over a year now...I'm a little burnt out.**

* * *

_Mikhail floated up and down in the lukewarm pool. His feet were able to touch the bottom of the pool with ease, so he found it okay to just float. He saw something swimming towards him and he started taking steps back, a little nervous. When his back hit against the side of the pool, the figure swimming towards him popped out of the water. Mikhail let out a yelp and the figure started to laugh._

"_Did I scare ya?" Cassius asked, standing in front of him. His hair was wet and he was smirking down at Mikhail, who was trying to calm himself down. _

"_You jerk!" Mikhail exclaimed, angry at the taller male. Cassius shot him an apologetic smile before moving closer to him, pinning Mikhail against the wall. _

"_Lemme make it up to you then…" He murmured, leaning in and kissing him. Mikhail's arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer as Cassius' tongue invaded his mouth, the kiss going from gentle to hot in two seconds flat. _

"_People are going to see us..." Mikhail mumbled when he broke the kiss for air. _

"_But you're so cute." Cassius pouted as he kissed his neck. His hands were wandering downward as he spoke. "And I want you so bad." Mikhail could easily feel that through the other boy's tight swim suit. Cassius went back to kissing Mikhail eagerly when he heard no more protest from the boy. Mikhail ran his hands through Cassius' wet hair and moaned as he felt his hands brush against his the crotch of his swim suit. "Seems like you want me pretty badly too." Cassius teased. _

"Mikhail, are you awake?" Catarina knocked on his door and Mikhail bolted up, almost falling out his bed.

"Yeah! I'll be out in a minute!" He called out to her. He rubbed his face with his hands, processing the dream he just had. He couldn't believe he even had a dream like that, let alone one with Cassius! He was so embarrassed, but he was also running a bit late, so he had to push the dream to the side and get up. He gather up his clothes and headed to the bathroom to start his morning routine.

He still couldn't figure out why he had a dream like that now. It had been about two weeks since he went to that interview with Leighton. Nothing had really happened since then. Cassius had taken him home about two times since then because of Jordan not being able too, and the rides were more fun with Lily in the back seat beside him, keeping the peace, or egging the argument on.

He brushed his hair and teeth, looking in the mirror. He really couldn't believe he had an almost sex dream with Cassius. He put his glasses on after he was all done getting ready and grabbed his bookbag from his room before going out to the main area of the house.

The main area of the house was basically the living room, then the 'dining room' which was really just an open area between the kitchen and living room that held their table, and then the kitchen after that. It was simple and just what they needed. A glass of orange juice was on the table for him, along with some eggs. Since he was in a rush, knowing that Jordan would be there any moment, he scarfed down the eggs and orange juice.

"This is what happens when you wake up late." His sister said, looking up from the newspaper with a small smile on her face. He heard honking outside, so he just settled for sticking his tongue out at her and hurrying to the front door.

He didn't know if he should tell Leighton and Jordan about his dream. Well, yeah, Jordan was his best friend, but Leighton was the one he talked about things like this with. He wasn't sure if he was comfortable with telling her things like this, but he had known her for a year and it was obvious that she and Jordan were not going to break up, probably ever, and she was a really good friend to him.

"I gotta tell you about this weird dream I had." He said, leaning forward in his seat to tell Leighton. Jordan raised his eyebrows at him, questioning why he didn't get to hear about the dream. "Promise me, you won't wanna hear about this dream, Jordan." He said, pushing his glasses up further on his face.

"Oh~ I'll get to know something Jordan doesn't! How exciting!" Leighton clapped happily. "Oh, and today is a super important day for the journalism club!"

"It's the day the calendars go on sell, right?" Jordan asked and Mikhail realized that that might have been why he had that dream. He hadn't found out until the middle of last week, when the journalism club announced that they'd be selling calendars featuring twelve male students, two from each of the six major sports at the school. Of course, the girl students, and some guy students, were excited about it. He really wasn't interested in it. While Cassius was good looking, he still found him slightly annoying and he still didn't trust him much.

Jordan pulled into his parking spot at school and Leighton was out of the car in a flash, pulling Mikhail out and dragging him into the school. "Tell me tell me tell me!" She exclaimed, excited.

"Shush!" He hushed her, glancing around. "I had a…dream with Cassius in it." He whispered.

"A dream? Or a dream dream?" She asked, eyebrows raised.

"A dream dream I guess? We were in a pool…..and….making out." Mikhail was so embarrassed to tell her this, but she smiled widely and hugged him.

"You like him!" She nodded her head, but Mikhail shook his head.

"It's because all you've been talking about lately is the calendar." He told her, trying to reason with her, but she just kept smiling, not believing him.

"What's got her so happy?" Nate asked, appearing beside Mikhail as he watched Leighton practically skip to her locker. He jumped, startled by the blonde girl's presence.

"She thinks I have a crush on someone that I definitely do not have a crush on." Mikhail grumbled, strangely feeling comfortable with telling the girl this. He felt like he and Nate were a lot alike.

"I understand." She grumbled, glancing to Lily, who was at her locker with her boyfriend, Flint. "Your Leighton is much like my Lily. You love them to death but you don't understand why your best friend is the fucking sunshine."

* * *

The calendars went on sale at lunchtime. Everyone rushed to get one, then some rushed to get the boys who were in it to sign it. Cassius and Marlon were flooded by people, forcing Lily and Natalie to regroup and join Mikhail, Leighton, and Jordan for lunch.

"Thank you so much for letting us sit with you." Lily said as she sat down. "Nate, say thanks."

"Look I was going to sit with you guys whether you wanted me to or not." Natalie declared, sighing. "But thanks for giving us permission."

"You're…welcome…?" Jordan questioned. "I'm guessing you two are not a fan of this calendar?"

"Not really. It means we gotta deal with those girls." Natalie grumbled, stabbing her jello.

"They are pretty annoying. They get so rude with us sometimes. I swear to god if one of them touches my beloved Flint I'm going to rip their arm off." Lily gripped her spoon in her hand tightly, scaring Mikhail. "But I'm sure this will pass over in a week!" She smiled again, scaring Mikhail more. She had reason to be like that though.

"Hey, now, this calendar is awesome!" Leighton defended it, seeing as she worked hard on her two months.

"Oh, who did you get for your birthday month?" A girl giggled to her friend as they walked by the lunch table.

"I got Flint for mine!" Lily smiled, thinking of her boyfriend on the lacrosse team. "Natalie got his best friend, Volkneerrrr~" She wiggled her eyebrows at her friend, and flipped to the month on the calendar she had bought to Flint's picture, sighing dreamily before flipping to Volkner's picture. Natalie just scoffed and looked away. Seems Lily was trying to set Natalie up. She really was like Leighton. "We can get them to sign our calendars later!"

"Joy." Natalie grumbled, her calendar must have been hidden in her bag.

"I got you one Mikhail!" Leighton pulled out an extra one and shoved it at Mikhail.

"Gee, thanks." He muttered sarcastically, wondering what Catarina was going to say about this. Many of the pictures in it were pretty nice though. He flipped through it, then stopped on August, his birth month. "Are you fucking serious?" He asked, staring at the shirtless picture of a wet Cassius. He was smiling at something that was behind the camera.

"Look, it's the picture I took when he saw you! He' smiling at you!" Leighton squealed, ignoring the face that Cassius' best friends were sitting right next to them.

"He's always smiling!" Mikhail argued, looking at the side pictures and glancing at the bio on the other side. He shut the calendar and stuffed it into his bag, embarrassed. "This was your plan, wasn't it?!"

"Oh, ya got a crush on Cassius?" Nate asked, interested in this.

"No! No I don't, I actually find him sort of annoying, no offense to you two or anything. She's the one who keeps implying that I do." He glared at Leighton again before looking at Natalie and Lily.

"He's annoying to you?" Lily questioned.

"Uhm, well, not annoying like annoying, but, he's so friendly and popular and attractive and that's just weird." Mikhail rambled, explaining it horribly. He just sighed, frustrated. He had to focus on school, but Cassius was making that hard. Thank god it was getting towards the end of August so he could just flip the calendar up and not have to stare at Cassius' pictures.

"Oh, I understand." Nate said, not pressing it any further. Lily looked confused, not following what the problem was. Nate just shook her head at Lily, letting her know not to worry about it. "I know Cassius can be overbearing at times, but he means well." Nate told him.

He glanced over to Cassius, who was surrounded by girls. He looked a little out of place, with his piercings and multi colored hair. He just smiled at them, thanking them, while Marlon was getting every girl's number that he possibly could. Mikhail felt his stomach flip when he looked back to Cassius and he froze.

He was not getting a crush on Cassius.

No way in hell was that happening.

* * *

"Move." Nate growled, pushing through a small crowd of girls. "Let's go." She told Cassius, grabbing a hold of his arm and shooting a dirty look at the girls. They scurried off and Nate let go of his arm. "Okay, it's been two weeks now. When will this stop?" She questioned him, like he could do something about it.

"I can't help it that I'm so good looking, Nate." He grinned, pulling his swim gear out of his locker. "I got swim practice today, since its September now. You goin' stay after with me?" He asked and of course she nodded her head. "Those girls will stop once they move onto Mr. September, that football quarter back." He shut his locker and made his way towards the natatorium, the building with the pool.

"I hope so." She grumbled. "Ya know, Mikhail's birthday month is August."

"Really?" He questioned, looking pretty happy about that. "I bet he was so happy to find that out. Too bad he didn't get to keep my month up for long."

"He threw a fit." She chuckled, thinking about what happened at lunch a week ago. "Leighton gave him a calendar and he looked so embarrassed when he saw your picture. " Cassius smiled at this and Natalie looked at him from the corner on her eyes. "He's not so bad. I like him."

"You do?" Cassius questioned, holding the door open for her once they arrived at the building.

"Yeah, he reminds me of me a bit." She told him. "Go have fun swimming." She said, taking her usual spot on the bleachers with some of the other girls, and boys, who caught rides home with the swim team members.

* * *

Mikhail doodled a little in the side of his notebook. He was sitting at a picnic table outside by the student parking lot. Jordan and Leighton had to stay after school, so he decided to wait outside and get some homework done.

He was slightly hoping that Cassius would take him home, but since it was swim season, he was busy after school just about every day. He actually hadn't seen much of the boy in the last two weeks. Since the calendar came out, Cassius had be swamped by girls so Natalie and Lily had been eating lunch with Jordan and them. Plus, Cassius had usually been asleep in first period since then. Natalie had told him the first week or so of swim practice, he was usually like that. After he got used to it, he'd be fine and happier than ever.

It didn't bother Mikhail, not really talking to Cassius. He had gotten way more work done in the last two weeks than he had since he started to become friends with Cassius. Still, it was a little lonely. He kind of missed having Cassius bug him or sneak up on him when he was at his locker, or messaging him on facebook about different songs on the cds he lent him.

He rolled his eyes, it had only been two weeks, and god, it was Cassius! He shouldn't be upset at all by this at all, in fact, he should be happy.

"Hey Mikhail." Natalie greeted, pulling her backbag onto her shoulder as she approached him. "What are you doing out here?"

"Waiting for Leighton and Jordan." He replied, shutting his math notebook.

"Ah. Yeah, Cas is finishing up with swim practice and I decided to go ahead and start the car so the AC will blow out cold air and not boiling hot air." She explained, swirling Cassius' car keys around her finger. "You want a ride home?"

"Uh…sure." Mikhail said, trying to hold back his excitement as he pulled out his phone to text Leighton about riding home with Cassius. He followed Natalie to Cas' jeep and put his stuff in the car as she started it.

"I like your phone." She smirked, chuckling as he blushed, putting it in his pocket. Mikhail was a little surprised at how friendly Natalie was being. He guessed she was warming up to them, because she was more talkative at lunch now than she was two weeks ago. He saw Cassius approach the guy, looking pretty tired. He suddenly grew anxious, hoping Cassius wouldn't mind taking him home.

"Mikhail!" He exclaimed, smiling when he saw the boy in the backseat.

"He was waiting outside for Leighton and Jordan, so I offered him a ride." Natalie explained, putting her seatbelt on as Cassius climbed into the drivers' side, cold air pumping out of the AC.

"Fine by me. I haven't gotten to speak with you in forever." He said, glancing at Mikhail in the rearview mirror. He smelled of chlorine and Mikhail was relieved when Natalie rolled a window down, complaining about how he smelled. "I'm just goin' get back in the pool when I get home, so no reason to shower."

"You have a pool?" Mikhail questioned, but he shouldn't have been too surprised.

"Yeah. I gotta get some use out of it before gramps' decides to cover it up for year." Cassius told him, pulling out of the student parking lot. "Coach is really pushin' it this season." He said, more to Natalie.

"Probably because scouts for colleges are going to be at the swim meets, and you are a senior now, so you gotta do your best." Natalie replied, flipping through songs on a cd.

"Yeah yeah, he's bitchin' to me about raising my grades. He's worried 'bout my math grade since I didn't do too hot on the last test." He complained, looking annoyed. "So, Mikhail, what's been up?"

"Uh, nothing really." Mikhail answered, shrugging. "Just studying and school." He wished he could say more, because he felt kind of pathetic.

"_You're with them now? Ask Natalie if she wants to go shopping with us this weekend!" _Leighton texted him.

"_Us?" _He replied, a little confused.

"_Yes, you, me, and Lily!" _She shot back quickly. He sighed.

"Hey, Natalie, do you want to go shopping with Leighton, Lily, and I guess me, this weekend?"

"I'm assuming this is more like an order from Leighton, not a request." She mumbled. "Lily just 'asked' me to come, and coming from her, it's an order, not a request."

Lily and Leighton really were alike.

"So I'm going to say yes, because even if I said no one of them would come drag me out of the house anyway." She finished, making Cassius chuckle as Mikhail typed her reply to Leighton.

"No one is goin' invite me?" He asked as he pulled up to Mikhail's house. "I'll just get Marlon to hang out with me. We should hang out too, Mikhail, when the girls aren't hoggin' ya." He turned to Mikhail as the boy gathered his things and opened the car door. "We'll see ya at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, thank you, bye." He said getting out of the car and hurrying to his front door.

* * *

"What do you mean we're shopping for me?" Mikhail asked.

It was Saturday and the mall was busy, as it usually was on weekends.

"You need new clothes!" She exclaimed, Lily smiling next to her. Natalie shook her head, standing next to Mikhail, seemingly on his side.

"I really don't." Mikhail mumbled, though he knew it was probably true. A lot of his clothes were hand me downs from many of Catarina's guy friends and from thrift stores. He liked the long sleeves and baggy shirts a lot, they were comfortable. "I don't have the money anyway." He told her.

"Luckily, your best friend does!" She said, flashing her debit card. Sometimes he forgot Leighton was rich. Lily laughed, excited to go shopping for him. He was kind of embarrassed that Natalie and Lily were here, but neither seemed to be judging him or feeling pity for him. "And we know exactly what Cassius likes, don't we?"

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed.

"Wait wait, no! I'm not dressing up for him." Mikhail protested, putting his hands up. "Why should I?"

"Because you two are perfect for each other!" Lily and Leighton said at the same time.

"We barely know each other." Mikhail argued. "How do you know if we'll be perfect together?"

"We just do, okay?" Leighton grabbed his arm, pulling him away. Lily and Natalie followed, letting Leighton lead the way. "Now Cassius can be picky to pin point. For one, he looks like he could model for Hollister and looks like he could shop there, but then again, he wears far too many band tees and his hair and piercings and tattoo point him towards Hot Topic. Neither of those stores really have what we need though. We're hitting up Old Navy first, because they're having a sale, which I know you like, and they have a whole nautical section. "

"Nautical? Like anchors and stuff?" Mikhail asked.

"Cas loves that stuff." Natalie shrugged. "Anybody who wears that stuff gets his attention."

Now that Mikhail thought about it, Cassius did own lots of things with anchors on it.

"Yeah, Natalie looks so cute in the anchor dresses!" Lily exclaimed. "I love making her and Cassius wear matching outfits. I prefer floral things and polka dots."

"You're got that look so you can pull those things off." Leighton told Lily. Lily did have the whole 'innocent' look down and she looked down right adorable when she wore her favorite daisy dress. Mikhail had seen Natalie and Cassius match in color and designs many times. It was pretty funny.

He was dragged to the male section of the store, forcing to look at button up shirts with anchors on them. Mikhail pouted and whined when Lily and Leighton tried to show him shirts and pants.

"Here." Natalie said, shoving a plain shirt with big red strips and a blue anchor on the chest pocket. "You like red, don't you?"

"Uh, yeah." Mikhail told hold of the shirt, actually liking it a bit. "How'd ya know?"

"Her favorite color is red too!" Lily grinned, happy that they were actually getting somewhere now.

"I can't have all these clothes with just anchors on it." Mikhail argued as the three girls kept looking.

"Not all of them have anchors on them, it's mostly the color scheme. Navy blue, red, white." Leighton explained as Natalie pulled out a cream long sleeve over shirt that seemed like a sweater and had anchor in a darker cream color on it.

"This one is soft." She said, shoving it at Mikhail, who took it in his arms, along with the other clothes.

"I'm so glad we bought Natalie! Mikhail is so stubborn." Leighton complained to Lily.

"So is Natalie." Lily complained, rolling her eyes. "Now go try it on!" She pushed him towards the fitting room and they waited outside.

"What are you guys doin' waitin' around outside the dressing room?" Cassius asked, approaching them with Marlon beside him.

"Guys this is too much." Mikhail whined, coming out of the room wearing a button up shirt with tiny red anchors all over it. He had the sleeves pulled up to his elbows and he looked embarrassed and adjusted his glasses. "It looks weird on me."

"Adorable!" Lily squealed, smiling at him.

"Boner alert." Marlon whispered to Cassius, smirking as Cassius smacked his arm.

"Dude, shut up." He grumbled, cheeks slightly red.

"I dunno." Mikhail mumbled, running one of his hands through his hair.

"Aw, you look good! Don't cha' think Cassius?" Marlon questioned, patting his friend on the back and getting Mikhail's attention.

"You look absolutely adorable." Cassius told him, trying to regain his composure from being put on the spot. Leighton smirked at him as he glanced away.

"Stop saying that. I'm not cute nor adorable!" Mikhail grumbled, looking at Cassius. Cassius looked a little flustered and wasn't really making eye contact with him.

"Well we'll leave you guys so you can finish shoppin', c'mon Marlon." Cassius grabbed his friend's arm, practically dragging him away, face red.

"See how easy Cassius is?" Lily asked Mikhail. "He was so into you!"

"But he left?"

"That's because he was embarrassed. Cassius doesn't usually get tripped up like that, so when he does, he gets flustered and embarrassed." Natalie explained, shrugging.

"We're getting that shirt and that pair of shorts! So go change into the next one!" Leighton declared, pushing him back into the fitting room. "We just got to make sure not to buy too much nautical stuff so Cas won't catch on."

"This is ridiculous." Mikhail grumbled, rolling his eyes, but he turned and went back into the fitting room.


End file.
